J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Isle of Wight 1827 > Isle of Wight Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study of the Sun Setting among Clouds over Water c.1827

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of the Sun Setting among Clouds over Water’ c.1827
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 27 Verso:
Study of the Sun Setting among Clouds over Water c.1827
D20775
Turner Bequest CCXXVII 27v
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 185 x 110 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Blue’, ‘wy’ and ‘warm o’ towards top, and ‘[?B] w’, ‘D Bl’, ‘D [?y]’ and ‘Or’ above centre
Inscribed in pencil by ?John Ruskin ‘992’ top left, descending vertically
Made with the page turned vertically, this typically diagrammatic study of a brief effect is not recorded in Finberg’s 1909 Inventory.1 The zigzag below the disk of the sun probably indicates its reflection in water, and the effect was perhaps observed from Portsmouth (see under folio 10 recto; D20747) or the Isle of Wight (see under folio 2 recto; D20735). Among the written abbreviations, effects of warm sunset orange and dark blue and yellow appear to be noted.
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Technical notes:
The number ‘992’ inscribed in the corner is typical of those on the versos of sketchbook pages removed for display in the nineteenth century; the watercolour on the recto (D20774) would presumably have been the intended exhibit in this case, although the leaf shows no obvious sign of having been removed and reattached, unlike folio 29 (D41006; Turner Bequest CCXXVII 43), for example.

Matthew Imms
November 2015

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Study of the Sun Setting among Clouds over Water c.1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-study-of-the-sun-setting-among-clouds-over-water-r1182637, accessed 04 April 2026.